Leaders Of Violent Gang Convicted On All Counts In Racketeering And Murder Case

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Defendants Anthony Mayes Jr. and Antoine Mayes Led Violent Narcotics Trafficking Enterprise in New York and North Carolina; Anthony Mayes Committed Three Murders

Yesterday, following more than two weeks of trial, a federal jury in Brooklyn, New York, returned guilty verdicts against Anthony Mayes Jr. and Antoine Mayes on charges of racketeering – including, against Anthony Mayes Jr., three murders as racketeering acts – as well as multiple counts based on their trafficking in crack cocaine. Earlier today, the jury also rendered a special verdict authorizing the forfeiture of almost $64,000 in cash, several firearms, and more than 500 rounds of ammunition seized from the defendants’ Queens residence.

The charges arose out of the defendants’ long-time dominance of a drug crew that operated in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, and in Williamston, North Carolina. When sentenced by United States District Judge Allyne R. Ross, the defendants face mandatory sentences of life imprisonment.

The verdicts were announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and George Venizelos, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI).

Between 1998 and 2010, the Mayes brothers led a group of violent drug dealers that sold crack cocaine and was based on Ashford Street in East New York. The criminal enterprise used violence and the threat of violence to maintain its source of income. Specifically, on June 18, 1999, Anthony Mayes Jr. shot and killed David Martin at a party in East New York, in retaliation for Martin having previously stabbed Mayes. This, and other acts of violence, were well known in the community and allowed the enterprise to dominate the local drug trade. After the Martin murder, Anthony Mayes Jr. moved to Williamston, North Carolina, where, using the alias Gus Rascoe Jr., he quickly came to dominate the drug trade in that area, selling crack-cocaine that he transported from New York and elsewhere. On January 27, 2003, Anthony Mayes Jr. murdered Eric Rayshawn Keel, and on February 29, 2004, he murdered Keith Cofield, both in North Carolina. Keel was murdered for purportedly stealing drugs belonging to the Mayes brothers’ criminal enterprise. Cofield was murdered because he owed a drug-related debt to the enterprise -- his corpse was dumped into a river.

Antoine Mayes was convicted of three separate counts of attempted murder based on enterprise’s drug and turf-related disputes in Brooklyn.

“For over a decade the Mayes brothers ran a violent and lucrative drug organization that held the residents of East New York hostage, forcing them to live in fear of violence. They expanded their operation to the State of North Carolina, dominating the drug trade in one corner of that state. The organization used murder as a management tool, killing those who threatened their source of income or just their stature on the street,” stated United States Attorney Lynch. “Today, their ability to earn money through crime comes to an end, and so does their rule of the streets. This verdict sends the message that that violence and drug-dealing have no place in our communities.” Ms. Lynch extended her grateful appreciation to Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office, the New York City Police Department, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the Williamston Police Department, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, and the Edgecombe County Sheriff’s Office for their outstanding work in this case.

The government’s case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Berit W. Berger, Richard M. Tucker, and Alicyn Cooley.